Review: 'Together' delivers a pre-marital commitment conundrum in the clever disguise of a creepy body-horror thriller

If you like your weird body horror wrapped in a metaphor, writer-director Michael Shanks’ “Together” is your jam — a smart, occasionally funny and deliciously grotesque story about the secrets of commitment.

Meet Tim and Millie, played by real-life married actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie. They are in the process of moving from the big city to the country, where Millie has lined up a job as an elementary school teacher. It’s a rough transition for Tim, a rock musician who, at 35, is still chasing the dream of a major record deal.

Shanks’ sharp script presents us with Tim and Millie’s relationship problems — including Tim’s fear of getting married, Millie’s worry that Tim is a man-child, and mutual concerns about how infrequently they have sex recently. But, because Brie and Franco are such charming people, the audience suspects that Tim and Millie will be fine if they just stick together.

And, after getting lost in the woods and drinking from a watering hole, sticking together — literally — is what Tim and Millie start to do. Suddenly, their attraction becomes quite literal, which brings problems ranging from the gross-out comedy to revulsion to, by the end, an odd sort of acceptance. The fact that those steps also apply to Tim and Millie’s rocky relationship is the point.

The joy of “Together” is watching Franco and Brie descend into seven levels of freaking out about Tim and Millie’s situation. They are natural scene partners, and bring out the terror and sometimes the humor in each other’s work — and their apparent security as a married couple seems to be infused n their performances.

When Millie’s schoolteacher pal Jamie (Damon Herriman) makes a reference to Plato’s “Symposium” and its theory of the soulmate (for details, listen to “Origin of Love” from “Hedwig & the Angry Inch”), you may know where the movie is going. But with Brie and Franco steering this outlandish movie, it’s still fun going on the ride.

——

‘Together’

★★★1/2

Opens Wednesday, July 30, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for violent/disturbing content, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and brief drug content. Running time: 102 minutes.